Taja
Name: Taja (Tajana?) Miran Ashling-Vaedelion Age: 13-14 Gender: Female Graced/Non: Graced Mother: Samara Ashling Father: Rowan Vaedelion Birthday: December 25 Personality: Taja is fairly quiet, listening rather than speaking. Ironically, she can be very clumsy, and often tripping over things (and breaking things as well). She has a knack for getting into trouble, something which causes her aunt great distress. Despite everything, she has thus far managed to stay out of the grasp of both the monarchs and whoever is taking the Graced. She's usually afraid of confrontation, often getting nervous and looking at her feet. Despite this, she is still quite brave. Description: Taja is 4'7 with short dark brown hair and one blue eye (right) and one purple eye (left). She has only one gold hoop in her left ear, and is usually found wearing over-sized and often heavily patched clothing. Because Graced are disappearing, her aunt tells her to cover her purple eye with an old bandage. Other: Taja has no memory of anything other than her life in Monsea. From the time she can remember, about five years, she's lived with her Aunt Merina (to whom she is not actually related). She acts a lot younger than she actually is, more like an 8 or 9 year old, due to losing her memory; this contributes heavily to her overall innocence. Despite her naivety, she's a lot more aware than most of the intentions of people around her due to her Grace. Her grace is perception, which gives her the ability to tell where other people are in respect to her. As a result, she has the potential to be a great fighter, but isn't at this point in time, due to lack of training. She can read minds, to a certain extent, can tell whether someone is lying or what they mean, and picks up languages and other ways of speaking very quickly. Owned by: AmberTempest Past= Vacation: Rowan didn’t get vacations very often, so when he finally got the chance to take one, he immediately took it. Though he deeply wished Sam could have gone with them, he understood why and was quite content with only taking Taja. Mostly content. Taja didn’t seem to mind much after her initial disappointment, especially once they got to the lake. And despite the somewhat long travel to get there, she didn’t seem tired at all, immediately running around in the grass and chasing various flying insects. Mainly butterflies. Rowan watched for a moment, grinning, before he grabbed the two bags they’d brought and taking them to the small shack of a house by the water. It wasn’t much, and had been abandoned long ago, but it was well out of the way; nobody would just wander in unless they were looking for something. For Rowan, that made it perfect. Taja was safe, and they could enjoy their week in peace. Taja ran to catch up to him as he shouldered a bag and made for the shack, grabbing his wrist. Flashing her a grin, he managed to open the door with both hands full and walked in. It was clear the shack could use a good sweeping out, but other than that, it was fairly well kept despite being abandoned. Though Rowan could only imagine why anyone would leave it. The roof didn’t leak, the walls were sturdy and well built, and there was no evidence of anything bad happening nearby; on top of it all, Rowan hadn’t found any indication anyone had intentions to return. No note, locked door, nothing; they simply left. Paying no more mind to that, Rowan set down the bags, looking over the shack again. The small kitchen could stand a good wiping down as well. Rowan looked at Taja. “Well, what do you think? Do you like it?” She cast an inspecting sort of glance around before nodding. “It’s got dirt on the floor though.” “You’re right,” he nodded. “But that can be cleaned up fairly quick. After that, do you want to go out onto the lake?” He’d told her about the lake, and knew she was excited about it. Just as he thought, she nodded again, more emphatically. “Yeah.” “Alright,” he grinned before setting down their bags and picking up a broom, setting to sweeping up the small living and sleeping area, as well as the kitchen. Once finished, he spent only a little time wiping down the counter in the kitchen before taking Taja out to the lake’s edge; he’d already spent some time looking over the place and had gotten hold of the small sailing boat now sitting on the shore. Pulling out the stakes tethering the boat to the shore, Rowan easily tossed them into the boat, checking the hull before pushing the boat into the water enough to where it leveled itself. Then he picked up Taja and put her in, pushing the boat out until the water was up to his thighs and the boat was floating free of the bottom of the lake. Pulling himself onto the deck, he gave Taja a grin. “Ready?” Taja nodded, a wide smile on her face while she looked back at the waves. Rowan grinned back, readying the sail; it was a perfect day for sailing. |-| Present= N/A |-| Future= Surprise Hug: Uncle Zayden was across from her in the sparring ring instead of Seath, today; he had been teaching her how to fight without a weapon. She wasn’t doing too badly, though she knew he was holding back a little. Only a little. They were testing her grace. At least that’s what he said, anyway. Taja wasn’t sure exactly how to do that, so really she was just doing anything that came to mind… which for the most part was simply dodge his attacks. Though her grace gave her an upper hand with that much, she still didn’t have any sort of a plan. Ducking underneath another attack, Taja tripped, having focused far too much on the fight to notice the ground beneath her feet. Without thinking, she threw her arms around her uncle. He froze, prompting her to hold on tighter, waiting for any sort of movement. There wasn’t any. “Do I win?” Taja asked tentatively, not letting go. He nodded; then realized she couldn’t see him do that, though she certainly knew he did. Grinning as he pulled away only to pick her up, he hugged back. “By a landslide.” Beaming, Taja threw her arms around his neck and hugged again. “I love you, Uncle Zayden.” He squeezed a bit tighter, a wide smile spreading across his face. “I love you too, Taja.” Then after a few long moments, he chuckled. “I think we should practice a little more on attacking, though.” Flushing slightly, Taja nodded, giving a small smile. “Just a little…” Zayden and Mack: “What do you think of Dosser?” Mack asked her uncle before leaning back against the wall. They were standing on some sort of walkway overlooking the training fields, and Taja wasn’t entirely sure spying was a good idea. But they weren’t talking about anything secret, so it probably wasn’t bad either. “Gavin Dosser? Not bad. He’s got some potential, if he can keep focused enough…” Mack snorted. “With a crap-ton of work. And enough luck, maybe.” “He’s got the drive,” Zayden shrugged, grinning. “What, where would you put him then?” “Nothing important, or near anything important…” “It was one time, and nothing important… just a practice dummy.” “Oh right, I’m sure anyone we’re guarding would appreciate if he accidentally broke them while protecting them…” she gave him a grin, obviously joking. “What? Really? I think that’d make their day,” Zayden was joking too. “Pssh, you would…” Mack gave him a shove. “Hey, I’ve gotta go, my shift starts in a minute; but we can continue this at lunch, if you’re free.” Zayden chuckled. “Sure, I’ll be there.” Taja watched while Mack left, catching a peculiar look in Mack’s eye that she’d been noticing more and more often. She couldn’t see what Zayden was thinking, though, or if he even noticed. After waiting a good moment, Taja walked over to her uncle. “She likes you.” Zayden jumped, obviously surprised she was even there. Freezing, Taja just stared back at him, wondering if anything was going to happen. Nothing did. “Uhh…” he didn’t know what to say to her statement. Taja tilted her head. “Do you like her too?” His eyes widened. “What? N-no, of course not.” He was definitely lying; Taja couldn’t help the smile leaping onto her face at actually getting it right. “You do!” she stayed quiet, despite being so happy. Rubbing his eyes, her uncle groaned. “Shhh, no one can know.” Taja frowned. “Why not? She likes you too. An’ when that happens, you go on dates.” “I can’t…” Zayden was blushing now. If it wasn’t obvious before, it certainly was now. “But why?” “I, uh… just don’t think other people would like if I asked her on a date…” Tilting her head again, Taja didn’t have to puzzle long over why he didn’t want to. “So you’re scared to?” He frowned. “A little…” “Why?” “She could say no, and then everything would end up being awkward because we work together…” “But she likes you too, why would she say no?” “Because we work together and some people have a problem with that. I don’t know if she does…” Sighing exasperatedly, Taja stomped on the ground. “Uncle Zayden, she did the look-back thing.” He raised an eyebrow at her, confused. “The look-back thing?” “Yeah. When she was leaving, she looked back and smiled and had that look, but not in a weird way like the lady who liked da… Mack definitely likes you. I dunno why she’d say no unless she wanted it to be awkward,” Taja shrugged. Despite what she said, he was still hesitant. “You think I should ask?” Taja nodded decisively. “Yeah. You should.” Looking far less decisive, Zayden nodded. “I’ll ask her later…” “I can talk to her first and make sure if you’re scared; that’ll make it less scary, right?” He paused. “It would… but you don’t have to.” “I wanna. I can help, I’m real good at reading people.” Pausing again, he studied her before sighing. “Alright kiddo, go ahead. But don’t make it obvious, okay?” Immediately brightening, Taja smiled. “Okay, promise!” Though Zayden looked incredibly nervous, Taja paid no mind while she skipped off; she would prove it to him. Zayden and Mack Part 2: Mack didn’t look extremely busy when Taja checked, so she waited until there wasn’t really anyone around to hear and scooted over. There was only an initial moment of surprise before Mack broke into a smile. “Hey kiddo, what’re you up to?” “Nooothing.” Mack raised an eyebrow, suspicious. “And what does that mean?” “Do you like my Uncle Zayden?” Taja asked, deciding to get right to the point. Though she did very well hiding it, Taja could still see a flash confirming her original idea; but after the flash, Mack only blinked. “What was that?” Stalling. “Do you like my uncle? Like like, not just friend like.” Mack gave a short laugh. “We’re friends, Taja, and like each other as friends. Nothing more than that.” Wrinkling her nose, Taja put her hands on her hips. “I’m 14 now, I can tell when someone’s lying.” Mack gave her a look, but despite it Taja was undeterred. “And I’m age, I know when to hold in my feelings. Why so curious, kiddo?” “Cause I wanna know things. And not the boring ones my Uncle Alban wants me to memorize, ones that matter. So do you?” “I dunno, kid, are you sure my feelings aren’t boring?” Taja nodded. “Uh huh, very sure. You’re nice and fun, not boring.” With that, her voice dropped to a whisper. “Not like Lord Nealon can be…” Mack flashed a grin. “I try to avoid being like him at all times.” Though smiling, Mack was hoping Taja had forgotten her original question; she definitely didn’t. “That’s good… and I did not forget,” Taja stuck out her tongue. She paled slightly. “Zayden’s nice…” “Does that mean you like him? I won’t tell, I promise.” Mack regarded her for a moment, debating. “I’ve put up with the man this long, Taja, you take a guess.” Just the look in her eye, sound of her voice, everything; Taja couldn’t help but giggle. “So you do, I got it right.” Despite herself, Mack smiled. “You aren’t allowed to tell anyone, okay? Especially not your uncle.” “Okay… why not, though?” “Because I want to keep it a secret.” Sighing, Taja practically resigned herself to never understanding adults… or wanting to. “But why… I thought you were supposed to date if you liked someone.” Mack gave a chuckle. “I don’t think he’s interested in me… or any other girl, for that matter.” “You never asked?” “No. Never knew how to word it.” Taja didn’t understand how that was a problem… “You adults are weird… But don’t you want to know?” “I did, but it seemed like a touchy subject for him when I first met him… then things were only complicated over the years, and here we are.” “Oh… but what about now, though? Don’t you wanna know now?” “It’d be nice…” she shrugged. Then paused. “You wouldn’t happen to know, would you?” “I know lots of things,” Taja grinned. “And I know that he looks at you the same way you look at him.” “He does?” “Yeah. I can find out for sure real easy, but since I was right about you, then I bet he does.” Mack blinked. “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind then. Thanks, sweetie.” “You’re welcome,” Taja beamed. Though Mack changed the subject quickly afterwards, Taja didn’t mind; once she and Mack were done talking, she was gonna go tell her uncle to just ask already. |-| Deleted= Taja's Torture (word count: 758): “I have one question for you, my dear… where is Princess Rylin.” “I don’t know,” I squeaked. “You don’t? Well that’s a shame, isn’t it?” He stepped over so I could see him while he examined a sharp-looking knife. Terrified, I squirmed, but the straps holding me down wouldn’t budge. “I was told your grace is mind reading…” he looked at me coolly. “You must know what I will do if you don’t answer me truthfully…” I didn’t know exactly, but I knew it wasn’t good; he waved the knife carefully in front of my face, and I struggled impulsively, trying to get away, tears prinking at my eyes. “You do,” a smile crept onto his face, eyes still cold. “So, why don’t you just tell me where Rylin is?” “I don’t know,” I couldn’t help but start crying; even if I had wanted to tell him, I couldn’t. “Hm… I really hoped you would see sense, Taja, but if you would rather be difficult…” He put the knife on the exposed part of my arm, the blade biting into my skin slightly. By now, I was sobbing. “Please, no… I don’t know, I really don’t…” My words rose into a scream as he slowly drew the knife back, slicing deep into my skin. “Don’t lie to me.” Crying, I could feel blood oozing down my arm. “What about the others, where are they?” Whimpering, I couldn’t answer, knowing he wouldn’t believe me. I didn’t want to answer, I didn’t want to be here. “Answer me. Where are they? Where have they hidden the princess?” He was holding something else now, just out of my range of vision. “You don’t have to make this get worse… you can tell me and I’ll let you go home…” Still crying, I shook my head. “I don’t know…” He was silent for a moment, and then something white-hot touched my skin; I shrieked, back arching. It seemed as though the burning would never stop, the wound throbbing even after whatever it was had been pulled away. “Where are they?” I felt the knife on my skin again. “I don’t know,” I screamed as he cut me once again. Then twice. And then the intense burning was back. Screaming and crying, I struggled against the straps, not even caring that they cut into my skin. Every instinct said to get away. “Where are they?” he snarled, attacking me with the knife. Shrieking an incomprehensible answer, I nearly blacked out as my skin was burned again. I didn’t know how long it had been, but it felt like forever; and then he started on my other arm. “What do they know about the Council?” “I don’t know!” I was crying so hard, I couldn’t even see anymore. He was cutting and burning again, completely unfazed by my screams. “Just tell me, Taja,” he hissed in my ear. “I’ll stop if you do, the pain will end.” “I don’t know anything,” I choked over my words, sobbing. “They didn’t tell me anything…” I screamed as he burned my arm an uncountable number of times; the pain was so blinding, black spots danced in my vision when he finally stopped. “Do they know where we are?” “I don’t know…” He cut again, the new pain jerking me out of my half-reverie. Vaguely, I remembered begging him to stop, the pain becoming synonymous with me speaking. It hurt so much every time I spoke, my wrists and ankles having been rubbed raw by the straps… and I couldn’t help but move every time the knife or burn-thing touched my skin. From somewhere, the Boulder was speaking to me. Whispering in my ear. “When are you going to stop lying to me?” “I’m not lying…” I whimpered, crying. “And you just won’t stop, will you?” He was wiping blood off the knife. “Lying isn’t a good habit to be in… I suppose I must teach you to never lie again.” I didn’t get the chance to say anything before he was attacking me with the knife again, alternating between both arms and legs; I screamed and couldn’t stop screaming, straining against the straps, tears streaming down my face. It seemed it would never end, and then the searing pain was back, alternating from limb to limb just as it had been with the knife. Screaming, I begged him to stop, black spots floating around the edges of my vision. Everything started to meld together, time, the pain, the screaming… it never ended, even when everything went black. Tide: “Do you remember anything you were dreaming, Taja?” “Yes.” “Can I ask you about one of them?” I tensed slightly, pulling away from him carefully; I wasn’t sure what if was, but I was suddenly scared. “Okay…” "Where... where did you get the word 'tide' from? I remembered, but that didn't concern me. What did was the immediate sense I wasn't supposed to know that as it flooded through me. I panicked, tears flooding to my eyes while I tried to move away from him further. "I didn't mean to - I'm sorry," I blubbered, terrified beyond reason. "Woah, it's okay," he made a move towards me, but instinct said to get away, which is exactly what I tried to do. It hurt, but fear helped me manage; not that it mattered, because Raft pulled away the instant he saw my fear. "I didn't mean to," I repeated, unable to stop the tears or the fear. "I'm sorry, I didn't know..." "It's okay, Taja, I promise it's okay... I won't hurt you, you know that, right?" Although I knew he was telling the truth, I was still scared enough to simply stare in response. And then after a few minutes of silent debate, I slowly nodded. "Good... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you..." "B-but I wasn't supposed to know that word," I said tearfully, still scared of him because of that. He blinked, understanding dawning on him. "Oh, I see... It's okay, you don't need to be scared... I won't get mad or hurt you." "P-promise...?" He nodded. "I promise. You're probably hurting now, aren't you..." I nodded carefully, tears still in my eyes from the pain alone; everything was burning angrily. "Will you let me help you?" I paused, but nodded again. Tentatively, he reached out again and pulled me back into a hug. Although the release of pressure on my limbs stopped the burning, it made them throb angrily. "I'll ask for some medicine for you, okay?" Nodding once more, I tried to ride out the new pain. Then it went silent for another moment while Raft thought. "Taja... is it alright if I ask you some more questions about that word? I just want to know a few things, that's all..." The want to be afraid was still there, despite his assurance. But I swallowed that, nodding anyway. |-| AU= Rowan+Samara die - AU (version 1): He knew she was scared, and so was he, but he kept as much of that down as possible, as well as ignored the immense pain. “T-Taja…” he gasped. “You need to go get Aunt Merina, okay?” Tears were streaming down her face while she gripped his arm tightly. “But… but dada…” “It’ll be okay, sweetheart,” he wheezed. “Just go get Aunt Merina…” Wiping futilely at the tears, Taja nodded. “Okay.” Then she quickly got up and ran out the door, completely forgetting to get shoes or even something to keep the autumn rain off her. Not that she noticed anyway; she ran to the castle where Merina lived, forgetting about the gate and stopping until she was plucked off the ground and set down by one of the guards. “Woah there, kid, what are you doing here?” It was as if a dam had broken within her, and in seconds she was bawling. “I need my Aunt Merina,” she nearly screamed, unable to do anything about the crying. “Hey, hey…” the guard sank to a knee, putting his hands on the sobbing girl’s shoulders. “It’s alright, I’m going to help you. Just tell me where your aunt is and why you need her, okay?” Still sniffing and sobbing, Taja nodded and pointed through the gates. “Sh-she’s in there… my mom an’ da are bleeding and told me to get her…” The guard’s eyes widened, but he remained calm. “Okay. We’ll find her for you, alright? And we’ll help your mom and da too. Where are your parents right now, can you tell me?” Struggling to focus on answering, Taja wiped at her eyes and pointed. “My house is down there… men kicked down the door…” He nodded. “Okay, what else can you tell me? What’s across from your house?” It took Taja a moment to remember while she tried once more to dry her eyes. “A bakery… it’s got yellow flowers outside…” The guard seemed to be wrestling, but didn’t press any further and stood up, keeping a hand on Taja’s shoulder. “Noakes, get someone out to find that house and help whoever’s inside and then get someone to find whoever Merina is.” The other guard nodded quickly, running off while the first one looked back at Taja and gave her a small smile. “What’s your name?” “Taja,” she sniffed. “Hi Taja, my name is Isen. We’re going to help your parents, okay? In the meantime, why don’t you come in here and sit down where it isn’t raining…” he led her into the gatehouse and sat her down, having two other men leave to watch the gate while he got the now shivering girl a blanket. Then he sat with her, talking to keep her calm while waiting for the soldiers to get back and tell him just what was going on. When they did return, he hardly believed the story. Glancing at the girl through the crack of the door, he looked back at his subordinate. If he wasn’t mistaken, the resemblance was most definitely there. Despite that, it was still a hard thing to swallow. “That’s impossible.” “It was her, sir, there is no doubt about it…” Isen was stiff, wrestling with making a decision on what to do. “You’re having the bodies brought here?” “Yes, as we speak.” “Alright,” he nodded. “Get back to your post.” “Yes sir,” the man ran off, leaving Isen alone with having to make the decision. For certain, he had to tell the king. Taking the girl with him, he made sure to leave her outside the door; it was best to not spring too much news all at once. He wasn’t sure how the king would take this particular news, and decided it would be best the girl wasn’t there for it. Once he was admitted, he stood at attention, wanting to fidget nervously but denying the urge. “Lord King. I regret I have to inform you, but your sister has been found dead.” The king went deathly pale, standing in shock and disbelief. “What…? That can’t be…” “Sir…” the man’s voice cracked slightly, fear wracking him. “There’s… there’s something else.” There were furious tears in the king’s eye while he turned his attention back to Isen, shaken but trying to remain calm. “What is it.” Isen took a deep breath, resolving to not stutter this time in spite of the fear. “This girl, sir. She ran to the gate and told us what had happened; she said men had broken into her house and that her mother and father were bleeding. I sent men out to investigate, and they told me they found the princess and another man dead at the house. Sir…” He nearly lost is nerve, but quickly recovered. “Sir, the resemblance is there…” The king didn’t move for a long while, disbelief, shock, anger, and sadness racing about his features all while he tried to remain calm; out of habit, it seemed. “I’ll speak to her.” Isen gave a quick bow. “Yes, Lord King.” Rowan+Samara die - AU (version 2): Tears were falling while she shook first her mother’s then her father’s unresponsive forms. “Mama…” she sobbed. “Dada, get up…” Despite her plea, neither of them moved. She was about to try again, but then stomping boots and a shout didn’t just draw her attention, it commanded it, filling her with fear that the men had come back. Absolutely terrified, she scrambled back as men entered through the broken door, taking one look at the room and shouting to grab her. She was up and running in seconds, but wasn’t fast enough as within three strides, a man grabbed her. Screaming and crying, she struggled against him. “LET GO!” He didn’t, however, restraining her easily in spite of her struggles. “Settle down or I’ll make you,” he growled at her, only prompting more furious crying. “P-please d-don’t hurt m-me, I’m s-sorry; I di-… don’t hu-hurt me…” “Put the girl down, Ruil,” another voice, one far less threatening, yet still commanding, said. “Zesk-“ “Put her down.” This time, the man did as he was told, though he still kept a hand on her so she couldn’t run. The other man didn’t seem to care, though, carefully getting on his knee so Taja was eye level with him. Still terrified as to what was going on, she made no effort to stop her tears, let alone the shaking. She wasn’t sure what to expect from this man. He gave her a small, but reassuring smile. “Hi, my name is Zesk. What’s yours?” “T-Taja…” “What happened here?” “P-people broke into my house,” she couldn’t help but cry. “My mom and da made me hide…” “Okay. Did you think we were the people who broke in?” Lip quivering, Taja nodded. Zesk’s face softened slightly. “I see… well you don’t need to be afraid, Taja, we’re on your side. Okay? We’re not going to hurt you.” “Okay…” she said, despite not being sure she believed him entirely. It seemed like the other man had wanted to hurt her. Features hardening as he looked back up to the other man, Zesk was obviously less than pleased. “I’ll take her back to the castle; you assist the others.” “Yes sir.” The man was tight-lipped and gave Taja a small shove as he walked away; she was glad he left. Waiting until he was gone, Zesk held out his hand to her. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you somewhere safer…” Taja took his hand, sniffing and wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Category:Characters Category:Charrie Category:Graceling RP